Smoke and Mirrors
by dees1
Summary: Set in both Season 6 after Zod and Season 10 after Finale - In 2012, AU Lionel decides to take Lex back to the one time when his son was truly happy to aid the return of his memories. They travel back to the 2006 during the last few hours of Black Thursday. Realising that Lex and Lionel have disappeared from 2012, Clark and Lois use the Legion Ring to travel back...
1. Chapter 1

**_Smoke and Mirrors_**

Thanks to Wichoman on for some amazing ideas for this story

Pairings: Clois / Lexana / Clana /

Spoilers: Set in both Season 6 after Zod and Season 10 after Finale

A/U –All the events in the Finale did happen except Lionel is still alive after killing Tess to source a heart for Lex. Lex's memories have just disappeared.

Plot: Out of desperation to help his son, Lionel decides to take him back to the one time when Lex was happy to aid the return of his memories. They travel back to the 2006 during the last few hours of Black Thursday when Lana had just pledged her love and support for Lex. Realising that Lex and Lionel have disappeared from 2012, Clark and Lois decide to postpone their already delayed wedding to travel back in time to thwart the Luthor Plan.  
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Prologue

Lionel watched his son looking out of the office window from the 27th floor. Things had changed since the memories had been taken away. His son had no clue that he was not his real father, and that he was a mirror image from another reality, brought to this world by the mirror box. At first he saw this as his one chance of redemption; a chance to make up for his betrayal of his own flesh and blood in the 'other world' as he called it. He had encouraged Clark Luthor to take his son's life, but the burden of such a heinous decision had worn his conscience down.

So what had Lionel done in return – he had killed his only daughter in the hope of bringing Lex back to life in this new world. It had worked… but at what price. Here was his son sitting in a darkened, room pondering a life that he could not even remember. At first, Lionel felt sorry for his son, but it soon started to dawn on him that it could be a new start for both of them but this hope soon started to fade.

Lionel had been watching his son for over a week since his amnesia set in, and he had realised that a Lex Luthor without memories was useless, and may as well not have been resurrected. From what he had discovered from his time in this reality and his delving into the past, Lex's ruthlessness had been borne not only of his genetics but also of his upbringing and experiences in this world – a case of 'nature vs nuture' so to speak.

Long gone were the memories of a brutal childhood brought up by the Lionel from this world and his long fight with Clark Kent, who was to cause his eventual downfall. Revenge against his son's killer had crossed his mind but the truth was that he was scared of Clark Kent as much as he had been of Clark Luthor.

Lionel now had one mission in life, to restore his son's memories and allow him to achieve the destiny from which Clark had prevented him from reaching thus far. It had taken him a lot of resources to come up with a workable plan but he now had the perfect one. Not only would his son regain his memories but he would also regain his insane taste for revenge.

"Lex, are you ok?" he asked with concern.

"Not really." His son spun around on his chair, taking in the presence of his father from behind his desk. "I have had another session with Dr Craven, but …nothing. He has not said anything but I can see that he doubt s that my memories will return. I cannot live like this; I would rather be dead. I don't understand why I cannot just be told about my past."

Lionel shook his head. "Dr Craven said the rush of memories could send you into psychosis. You need to remember the memories in your own time."

Lex slumped back in the chair. "But what if I never do? I cannot hope to move forward with my life if I do not even know what drives me. Do you know what it is like to wake up every morning and feel…nothing. I feel numb as though I inhabiting this empty vessel. I need to get out of this Lutor bubble I have been living in for the past week."

"Son, don't be hasty. I was not going to tell you this until I had worked out the finer details. There is another option."

Lex sat back up straight and listened intently. "Go on…. I'm listenining."

"I have talked to Dr Craven at length and he feels it might work even though it will sound crazy. Over the past few years, we have been working on a way to time travel and we recently had the breakthrough we needed." Lionel explained, hoping his son would not detect his lies.

Lex smirked. " What are you going to do? Are we going to travel back to when I was a baby so I can live my life again? People may be suspicious."

His father shook his head. "No, Lex. We go back to a time when there was such upheaval and confusion that it would act as a perfect smokescreen for our arrival."

"When was that?" he asked curiously.

"Five years ago! Most of America suffered a power blackout, and the whole infrastructure of the nation was on its knees as it faced anarchy amongst its people. You were inhabited by an alien presence and almost caused the destruction of the Earth. "

"It seems I have had quite an eventful life." Lex laughed.

"Yes, you have. Anyway no-one will notice if you are acting a little differently and suffering memory loss after such a traumatic experience. The weeks and months after those events were some of the happiest you had ever experienced and it would be the perfect opportunity to relive parts of your life in the hope it will trigger the return of your memories." Lionel explained.

"It sounds like an ideal plan on paper but there is one problem – what happens to Lex and Lionel from the past. People may get suspicious of doppelgangers walking around."

Lionel took a seat opposite his son. "The time travel device we have not only allows us to travel backwards and forwards in time, it actually allows us to swap places with our counterparts from the past. I have put Dr Craven in charge of keeping our counterparts safe until our return. Their memories will then be wiped before we are swapped back."

"Sounds so easy!" Lex replied. "When can we go?"

Lionel got up and hugged his son. "I never thought you would agree. We can leave this afternoon."


	2. Chapter 2

Lois turned over in bed and was faced with a now very familiar situation – a missing fiancé. She realised that it was something she would get used to eventually but at the moment she could see the happiness and satisfaction on Clark's face every time he returned from a rescue mission. Rather than hide in the shadows, blurring from emergency to emergency, he had finally been able to step out into the world and be taken into the hearts of those he was protecting.

Every time she heard Superman mentioned on the news or heard people talking about him in the street, she felt full of pride that her future husband was the one changing people's lives on a daily basis. Not once did she resent having to share him with the rest of the world; of course there were moments when she would rather not have been disturbed but when duty called, he left. It was as simple as that.

Lois was constantly deflecting questions about when the wedding would be, and she was turning into the stereotypical film star on the verge of a breakup with comments like ' We don't have time at the moment' or 'we are happy as we are.' However Clark and she were anything but on the verge of a break up. He never left her in any doubt of his strong feelings for her, and she made sure he never doubted her feelings either.

Yes, they had their spats and arguments like any other couple, but they both knew they would ride out any storm, knowing they had experienced worse situations over the years. It had taken Lois a long to deal with certain insecurities within their relationship, namely the spectre of Lana Lang. However she was now at a point where she felt she could deal with Lana's return, safe in the knowledge that Clark would never return to her.

High over the city, Clark was on his way back home after his most recent absence. Sometimes he felt guilty leaving Lois so often, but seeing the faces of the 76 oil workers he had just saved from impending death on the platform in The Gulf made it all worthwhile. He wondered if Lois would be awake on his return; she often was. He constantly realised how lucky he was to share his life with her. She was the most beautiful and selfless woman he had ever met, making him wonder why he had not fell for her earlier.

He had wasted so much time on the Lana/Clark rollercoaster, unable to step off due to his obsession with this girl from his childhood. He had always envisaged life with Lana as the perfect story of ' happily ever after' but it took him such a long time to realise that there had never been any hope of achieving this so-called utopia. Lana had angles; she often did things that he could not agree with, and was in some ways selfish in her motives. In the end he realised how hypocritical she had been, complaining constantly of his lies, when in fact, she told as many lies.

Seconds later, Clark landed on the balcony of his apartment and sped inside so there was no chance of anyone seeing him. The last thing Lois needed was to be accused of an affair with Superman when she was supposed to be happily attached to the mild mannered report who worked alongside her at the Daily Planet.

"Hi." He heard as he entered the bedroom.

"Hi yourself." He replied, feeling a twinge of guilt that she was still awake at 3am. "Could you not sleep again?"

"No, not really."

He spun around to change into his PJ bottoms, and sat next to her on the bed, "I am sorry I have…" With that, he felt her fingers pressing softly on his lips, as if she was telling him to be silent.

"Never apologise for doing what you and the rest of the world need. I will always be waiting for you, no matter what!" she whispered.

He lent closer to her and kissed her gently. With that she pulled him down onto the bed…

The following morning, Clark had disappeared before dawn with the promise of meeting her at work with some maple donuts. It was two minutes before the 9am official start time when he walked into the bullpen.

"You're early." She smiled.

"I did not want to be late to meet the new boss of the Daily Planet. Not that I am very hopeful, given that Lex has been very coy about who Tess's successor is." he said as they headed up to the top floor to see the official announcement made.

"I wish Tess was still alive. Let's face it Lex is not being coy; he has become a recluse. He is never seen in public; he never does interviews and in fact he should have just stayed dead. "Lois replied honestly.

"Lo, why would he need to face the public when he has Lionel representing him." Clark said quietly so no one would overhear. "I still cannot believe that Lex has accepted the alternative Lionel as his father. "

Lois looked at him. "Well there is no way that Lionel will have told him that he had Clark Luthor kill him in the mirror world."

"Great Caesar's Ghost…" they heard a loud voice booming across the room. "I love the ambience here. This has a real 1930's newsroom atmosphere going on." He announced as he took in the newsroom as he was being shown around by Lionel Luthor.

"Well, Mr White… what else would you expect from the greatest newspaper in the US." Lionel replied with his usual large cheesy grin that appeared as soon as the news cameras were focussed on him.

Lois looked at Clark and saw the beaming smile on his face. "You are happy with the choice, aren't you?" she joked.

He looked around and saw Lois biting her lip nervously. "You knew…" he accused her playfully.

"Well yeah… Perry and I talk a lot." She replied. "I promised I would not breathe a word to anyone."

He smiled back. "I understand, Lo. There is nothing wrong with keeping secrets."

"Well you should know." She laughed back

Perry and Lionel did the usual show for the press, but Clark could see that there was no love lost between the two men. He knew Lionel had only done it to save the paper, which was suffering a bit of a crisis in terms of declining reader numbers.

After an hour or so, all the employees started to disperse, the hum of excitement clearly in the air at the thought of having some fresh blood at the helm of the ailing newspaper.

Lois and Clark were just about to head off back down to the Bullpen when they heard a voice shouting at them. "Lane…Kent.. in my office now."

They turned around and headed into the newly refurbished office.

"Where did you two think you were heading?" he asked, leaving the pair puzzled by the question.

"We were going back to work." Clark replied.

"You don't work in the basement anymore. These are the keys to your new office on the next floor down. You are both promoted… I just hope you are okay with working in such close proximity."

Clark and Lois looked at one another and then hugged Perry. "That is amazing." Lois beamed. "We won't disappoint you."

"I know you won't." Perry smiled. "Otherwise you will be back in the Bullpen before you know it."

They headed towards their new office and were shocked when they saw such a large one, all newly decorated with two massive desks and a plush sofa overlooking the city.

"This is so cool." Lois said as she flung herself onto the sofa. "Wanna join me?"

"No, not when we are at work." He replied seriously. "We can wait until we get home for that, or there is always the photocopy room later if we cannot wait." He winked at her.

An hour later, they were in the car on their way to a murder scene. "So who is our victim?" Clark asked Lois who had taken the phone call from Detective John Jones from the Met PD.

"John doesn't know much about him except that she is a working girl who obviously ended up with the wrong client." Lois explained.

"You know John never tells us about cases unless it is something important." Clark suggested.

Clark pulled up the car alongside John who was talking to one of the forensics team. "Hello, detective… we are Lois Lane and Clark Kent from the Daily Planet. Can you tell us anything about this murder?" Lois announced loudly so no one would connect John to them.

"No,not really. We need to inform the next of kin before we release any details."

Clark suddenly heard John's voice inside of his head. "Her name is Clara Myers. She was a working girl in her 20's and she was a police informant. One of her most frequent clients was Lionel Luthor and she was known to have spent a lot of time at Luthorcorp. She made a call to the Met PD yesterday to tell us that she needed to meet us as she had some important information about Lex. However before she had a chance to do that, we got a call from the Sanitation Department to say there was a body on this site."

"So is it no comment at this time?" Clark asked out loud.

"We will hold a press conference at some point this afternoon. If you contact the Met PD press dept, we will ring you when we know a time and venue." John explained in an official tone.

"Can you and Lois meet me at the Farm later?" John asked via his telepathic link.

Clark nodded as he grabbed Lois's hand and led her back to the car.

"So give me the gossip?" Lois demanded to know as they drove away. "And tell me again why John cannot create a telepathic link with a human." She smiled.

"We are meeting him later at the farm. I had better not tell mom we are coming otherwise she will put on the works." Lois replied.

"I think she just misses having company since she returned from Washington DC." Clark explained.

"How does she have time to miss us? Ever since she left the Senate she has never stopped campaigning for rights for the meteor infected. I mean she is never in Smallville much anyway."

Clark smiled. "I know… she is going on a three week tour of Europe next week."

"John seemed to be very concerned about this murder. I have a feeling this is going to be a complex case." Lois added with no idea how prophetic were words would become…


End file.
